Chaos

This is a fantastic game that I only discovered a few years ago (long after my STs have been in storage) There is a fairly modern remake called Chaos Funk that is easily searchable, but I still prefer this version.

wiggy - 02/05/2009

pd version of the old turn based Spectrum wizard battle game - great sound effects and fast gameplay

Additional Comments - Chaos

Instructions - Chaos

CHAOS
Originally by
JULIAN GOLLOP
Unofficial ST conversion by
MARTIN BROWNLOW
Original code ported by
MARTIN BROWNLOW
Graphics extracted by
ADAM TURNBULL
Graphics recoloured by
MARTIN BROWNLOW
ADAM TURNBULL
Samples selected by
MARTIN BROWNLOW
MICHAEL BROWNLOW
ADAM TURNBULL
The samples used in this game were taken from the following films:
WARLOCK
HIGHLANDER
BLADERUNNER
FRIGHT NIGHT
GHOSTBUSTERS
EVIL DEAD II
A FISH CALLED WANDA
MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL
Extra samples taken from:
Red Dwarf series II (Queeg)
(Stasis Leak)
Red Dwarf series IV (White Hole)
Red Dwarf series V (Quarantine)
Blackadder series II (Head)
(Money)
Blackadder series IV (General Hospital)
(Goodbyeee)
'Gimme The Prize' By Queen
and
Numerous Noisetracker modules
STOS Maestro samples disk
1. Introduction
Chaos is a game of magical combat between 2 to 8 wizards in an
arena. Each takes turns to select and cast spells and move summoned
creatures. The winner is the last wizard left alive, but there is a
limit to the number of game turns in which to acheive victory, and
the contest could be drawn. Playing time varies from five minutes
(with two wizards) to half an hour (with eight wizards).
2. Creating your wizards
Each wizard must be assigned a name and a graphic. The name can
be up to twelve characters long, but must be at least one letter long
and cannot start with a space. Any or all of the wizards can be com-
puter controlled, and each computer can have a seperate level between
1 and 8 (8 being hardest), which governs how strong the wizard is.
Simply pressing enter for the name of the wizard will assign a
random name from the many names stored in memory.
Pressing Q at the computer controlled or graphic prompt will
return to the game to the title screen. Also, pressing R at either
of the above prompts will return to the name entering for the current
wizard.
3. Selecting a spell
During this phase each wizard must select which spell he will
cast (if any). There are 4 options available to every wizard.
These are:
1. Examine a spell
Select a spell from the list and you are given details about it.
2. Select a spell
Select which spell to cast during the following turn. If you
select a monster spell, you will be required to choose if it is
an illusion or not (see below).
3. Examine the board
Move the cursor around the board using the standard keys (below)
and 0 to exit.
4. Continue with game
Standard keys for cursor movement:
Q W E
\|/ I : Info on current square
A-*-D
/|\
Z X C
Some foreign keyboard layouts do not have these keys in the same
position, so you can also use the keys around 5 on the keypad to
acheive the same effect. In this case, 5 replaces S as the select
key.
4. Placing spells on the board
At the bottom of the screen is shown the name of a wizard, the
spell to be cast, and the range from the wizard at which it can be
cast (going diagonally costs 1.5 movement points).
Use the cursor movement keys (above) to select the space you
want, and press S to cast the spell. Press K or 0 to abort the spell.
5. Moving creatures
Pressing f10 during either your move or the computer's move when
no creation is selected will abandon the current game.
Press 1 to 8 to highlight the respective wizard's creations.
Using the cursor, select the creature you wish to move. Press S to
select, or I for information. Once selected, the screen will tell
you the creature's movement points.
Movement is acheived using the cursor keys.
For flying creatures, place the cursor where you would like the
creature to move and press S.
To attack another creature, move your creature up next to it and
try to move onto its square. Some creatures have ranged combat as
well as direct combat (e.g. an elf with a bow) and after moving (or
pressing K to abort its movement), you can place the cursor on an
enemy creature (within range) and fire at it by pressing S.
Pressing K aborts a creature's movement, and can be used before
or during movement. K also aborts ranged fire.
When you have moved all the creatures you wish to, press 0 to end
your turn.
6. More about spells
a. Law and Chaos
All spells are either lawful, chaotic or neutral. This is
shown on the spell menu by the following symbols.
^ Lawful
* Chaotic
- Neutral
Casting chaos spells makes the universe more chaotic and
the reverse applies for law spells. Chaos spells become
easier to cast in a chaotic universe, and law spells easier
in a lawful universe. The state of the universe is shown on
the main menu under the wizard's name e.g.
(CHAOS **)
b. Reality and Illusion
Each spell has only a specific chance of being cast succes-
sfully, ranging from 100% for a giant rat to 10% for a golden
dragon. The more powerful the spell, the lower the chance.
However, creature spells can be automatically cast as illusi-
ons but may then be disbelieved,by use of a Disbelieve spell.
c. Properties of creature spells
The spells on the menu are printed in various colours to
indicate how easy they are to cast, the brighter the colour,
the easier to cast. To find out more about a particular spell
press the letter of the spell (on examine spell mode only) or
I in the game which will give you the following information:
COMBAT: Offensive power
RANGED COMBAT, RANGE: Some creatures have ranged combat
DEFENCE: Defensive power
MOVEMENT ALLOWANCE: Number of spaces it can move in one
turn.
MANOEUVRE RATING: Ability to disengage from an enemy.
MAGIC RESISTANCE: How good it is at, wait for it, resi-
sting magic.
CASTING CHANCE: Guess!
OTHER CHARACTERISTICS:
Some crestures have special characteristics which are prin-
ted below its name. These are:
FLYING The creature can fly
MOUNT The creature can be ridden
UNDEAD These can only be attacked by other undead,
spells or wizards with magical weapons.
d. Other spells
(LOS) means the wizard needs to have a line of sight to the
target square.
DISBELIEVE: All wizards have this spell. If you suspect a creature
to be an illusion, then this spell will automatically succeed
if you are right and fail if you are wrong. It will always
remain in your spell list.
CHAOS 1&2, LAW 1&2: These spells simply alter the balance of the
universe.
GOOEY BLOB (LOS): The gooey blob cannot be cast on another creature.
Once cast it will spread, engulfing enemy creatures but not
affecting yours. Creatures engulfed do not die, but are
trapped until the blob holding them is killed.
MAGIC FIRE (LOS): The magic fire cannot be cast on another creature.
Once cast it will spread, destroying enemy creatures but not
affecting yours.
MAGIC WOOD (LOS): Up to 8 magic woods will spring up around you. Any
wizard may enter a tree, and there is a chance of gaining
extra spells from them.
SHADOW WOOD (LOS): You can place up to 8 trees provided they are
placed in empty spaces and are not adjacent to another tree.
These trees can be selected as though a creature. They cannot
move but can attack creatures next to them.
MAGIC CASTLE / DARK CITADEL (LOS):
These must be cast in an empty space. The casting wizard can
enter the castle or citadel. They are impregnable to attack,
but don't last forever!!
WALL (LOS): You can place 4 walls in empty spaces. Nothing can
enter or move through a wall.
MAGIC SWORD/KNIFE/BOW: These affect a wizard's combat power: the
sword adding 4, the knife 2, and the bow giving a ranged
combat option. You cannot have the sword and knife at the
same time.
MAGIC ARMOUR/SHIELD: These affect a wizard's defense rating: the
armour adding 4, the shield 2. You cannot possess both at
the same time.
SHADOW FORM: This make the wizard semi-visible and fleet, adding 3
to defence, increasing movement to 3 and allowing the wizard
to move freely without becoming engaged, but if the wizard
attacks anything, these effects disappear.
MAGIC WINGS: This spell transforms the wizard into a flying creature
with range 6.
TELEPORT (LOS): This spell moves the wizard across the board, but
takes more time than any other spell, so the wizard cannot
then move. You can only land in an empty square or on a
corpse.
MAGIC BOLT/LIGHTNING (LOS): These are both ranged physical attacks
of magical origin. Lightning has a shorter range but is more
powerful.
VENGEANCE/JUSTICE/DARK POWER/DECREE:
For these spells, pinpoint an enemy creature or wizard with
the cursor and press S. If the target is a creature, it may
die, depending on its magic resistance; if a wizard, then
their creations may all vanish. Decree and Dark Power give
three attacks, Justice and Vengeance both give just one.
SUBVERSION (LOS): This spell tries to change a creature to your
side. The lower its magic resistance, the better the chance
of it defecting. You cannot subvert a mount being ridden or
an illusion.
RAISE DEAD (LOS): You must select a corpse for this spell to act on,
if successful, it reanimates as an UNDEAD creature, behaving
as any other UNDEAD,but retaining its other skills.
MUTATE (LOS): This spell will mutate a creation into another form,
gaining all the abilities of this new form and retaining none
of its old abilities. If this spell is cast at an undead, it
will mutate into another undead. This spell's success depends
on the magic resistance of the target. Illusions and mounts
being ridden are immune to this spell.
TURMOIL & TEMPEST: These spells cause huge amounts of disruption to
the arena by randomly swapping the positions of creatures and
wizards. Use carefully.
THIS PROGRAM WAS WRITTEN IN 2 WEEKS, and was assembled from over 140K
of source code. There are 54 samples (including the one in the load-
er) taking up about 700K of memory.
Version 1.1 was completed on 8th January, 1993. It fixes the engaged
bug and adds in randomly assigned names, the ability to quit a game,
to re-enter a name and keypad movement for foreign keyboards.
I hope you enjoy this game.
Martin Brownlow
(11:54 pm Friday, 11 September 1992)
See you again soon!
Hi! to:
Steve "The BSc" Camber
Daniel Marc "With a C" Littlewood
Duncan "No sharp objects" Robertson
Richard "Ringo" Clements
"Grave" Dave Gymer
"Captain" Kirk Jackson
Adam "Put this spell in" Turnbull
And anyone who's ever played and enjoyed one of my games!
Other games by me for the ST:
ABOMBINABALL (written in STOS)
GRAV
GRAV 2 (Shareware, available from LAPD)
GEMS
TANX
GRAV BATTLES
Games under construction
SPUD (cute platform game)
"ROTO" (one step better than rotoscape)
DERELICT (Captive x Bloodwych x Dungeon Master)
ABOMBINABALL (Assembly version)
GRAV 3 (as in ALIEN 3)